This weekend, I went to a gasshuku (dance training camp). It was for one of the dance circles I joined: Sophia Modern Dancers. We went to Hasaki, a town located in Ibaraki Prefecture, and stayed at a hotel called Journey Road. There was honestly nothing around the place we stayed except a beach and a 7-Eleven (which, by the way, is a Japanese company. Am I the only one who didn't know that?). More importantly, though, I was able to experience something I never had before. Throughout college and even back in high school, I was lacking a social life. I was always working and going to school, working and going to school, to the point where I forgot how to interact with people other than customers. So when I came to Japan, I decided to be more social. I'm still working on it, but my first step is going out there and joining circles and clubs. So I joined Sophia Modern Dancers and went to an overnight trip without knowing anybody, without knowing where the place was, without knowing what we were doing. Fortunately, everyone was really nice. The members of the circle were very welcoming and tried their best to include everyone in their plans and activities. So the first day, we arrived around 3 in the afternoon. We booked three rooms, divided between seniority (I ended up being a 21-year-old freshman haha). We went to the dance hall and divided into three groups based on rock-paper-scissors. From there, we went straight to practice. Each group chose a song and had to copy a segment of the dance from the original artist. It was then that I realized how difficult dancing is! I couldn't keep up at all. D: It was only a one-minute segment, but analyzing the dance and figuring out what exactly the artist was doing alone took about an hour. From there, we put the dance together and kept repeating. We must have gone over it a thousand times, but I still couldn't get it perfect in the end. The next day, we actually had a mini performance by each group for the dance we practiced the day before. Afterwards, we had a contest! We split into two groups and played many different games, such as volleyball, badminton, Daruma-san ga koronda, jumprope, etc. It was a lot of fun. At night, we went out to the beach and attempted to do fireworks, but the wind was too strong. :( The last day (today), we went to the beach again and just hung out there. We played some beach volleyball, had a couple of races, and took a ton of pictures.
Departure!
Hotel Journey Road
The Dance Hall
Freshmen!
with the sophomores!
The whole group!
Jumprope
Discussion
Trip to the convenience store~
Freshmen Group
Late night snacking and games!
To the beach!
Windmill!
Hasaki Beach It's actually one of the best beached in Japan (out of 100). It's a shallow beach with clear water and many spots for surfing and body-boarding.
Fish washed ashore!
Jump!
Good morning!
By the way, did I mention that the meals were included? Three meals per day and they were decent! Unlike other hotel/bed&breakfast foods.
tempura (2 shrimp, 1 crab claw, maguro sashimi, green lasagna chicken, fish ball soup
hamburg steak, with potato wedges, carrots, and asparagus
And if you don't know what Daruma-san ga koronda is, it's like statues or red light, green light (123).
One person is "it". Instead of counting to ten, "it" says, "Daruma-san ga koronda."(In fact, there are 10 syllables in the sentence, which means, "The daruma doll fell over.") For the other players, the object of the game is to get close to whoever is "it" without him seeing them move.
How to play
(1)
The person who is "it" faces away from the other players with his eyes shut. "It" says "Daruma-san ga koronda" quickly, and then turns around as quickly as possible, opening his eyes. While "it" is saying the phrase, the other players move closer to him. Just before "it" turns around, the players must freeze.
(2)
If "it" sees a player moving, that player must hold hands with "it."
(3)
If a player successfully reaches "it" without getting caught, he or she slaps "it" on the back, then everyone except "it" runs away. However, if "it" is holding hands with one or more captured players, the attacker tries to break their hands apart with the side of his hand. Then everyone except "it" runs away.
(4)
When "it" shouts "Tomare!"("Stop!"), everybody must freeze.
(5)
If "it" tags one of them by taking no more than three steps, the two switch places.
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